Fitzgerald's Ideas Today

The idea of the correlation between the acquisition of money and general fulfillment is one key to The Great Gatsby. In the novel, Fitzgerald challenges the idea that by attaining the American Dream, you become completely fulfilled, emotionally as well as matierially. Despite the popularity of Fitzgerald's publication however, even today in the 21st Century, the idea of the American Dream as something fullproof and unshaking still resonates with many Americans. I have, on the other hand, found an article which specifically targets whether money can buy happiness in America. The article interestingly explains how although in extreme scenarios statistics show that the more affluent a nation is, they are often happier, in agreement with Fitzgerald, individual wealth doesn't necessarily result in happiness.

The article, written by Arthur C Brooks in 2008 entitled 'Can Money Buy Happiness', begins with a story about how a man, Mack Metclif, a 42 year old working class forklift driver won $65 million on the lottery one day. He had a history of problems, and winning the money didn't seem to help him, to a point where he resorted to alcaholism, primarily as a result of paranoia, leading to his death aged just 45. Brooks uses this story as a representation, in an extreme scenario, of how the effects of money can in fact reduce happiness and increase things like paranoia and depression. To substanciate his argument, Brooks goes on to talk about how, in the wider scale of things, his theory is true. He expalains how although 'Americans have on average gotten much richer over the past several decades', 'there has been no meaningful rise in the average level of happiness'. In addition, he explains how 'In 1972, 30 percent of Americans said they were very happy' whilst earning an average annual wage of $25,000, but 'by 2004, the percentage of very happy Americans stayed virtually unchanged at 31 percent, while the share of national income skyrocketed to $38,000'.

Although these examples are very general, they still clearly identify the same ideas that Fitzgerald implies in The Great Gatsby. In the novel, Fitzgerald goes for a far more personal approach, using Jay Gatsby's situation as a microcosm of his interpretation of the American Dream. Gatsby's vast wealth coincides with his inability to win over the love of his life, Daisy. At the end of the Sixth Chapter, Gatsby's mood is depicted by Fitzgerald as 'unutterable depression' after another failed attempt to win her over by inviting her to one of his lavish parties. This is one example of how Fitzgerald gives us a direct idea of the lack of fulfillment money gives you without love and happiness, as Gatsby's wonderful house and parties mean nothing to him and leave him in a state of 'depression' as a result of the one he loves having a bad time.

Brooks' use of statistics and facts to support his interpretation of the American Dream and the disassociation of money and happiness continues throughout the article. In order to illustrate how across America, state happiness 'depends very little on their comparative prosperity', he explains how in 'Eastern Tennessee... [people] are 25 percent likelier than people living in tony San Francisco to say they are very happy, despite earning a third less money on average.' This shocking statistic opposes the idea that rural Americans are less fulfilled as a result of a generally less finacially supported lifestyle. Interestingly, this idea, in a sense, resontes in The Great Gatsby. Gatsby made much of his money working in the city, and grew up in a wealthy family in an affluent area of San Francisco, as well as living in arguably the richest area of New York, Long Island North Shore. His fulfillment and happiness however doesn't correlate with his upbringing and his location in later life. This agrees with the idea presented by Brooks in his article.

I think that the source I have chosen to represent how the themes of The Great Gatsby still resonate today is totally justifiable. The article gave us a rare example of someone questioning the American Dream and the fulfillment that comes from American consumerism with clear influence from figures such as F. Scott Fitzgerald. The article's factual nature could be well compared to the more opinionated fictional interpretation of the novel. This comparison has shown me how Fitzgerald's view of the matierialistic nature of the American Dream is still somewhat shared today.